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Wat Arun Ratchawararam, Temple of Dawn, Bangkok, Thailand

February 5, 2019
Bangkok, Thailand

Before visiting Wat Arun, my friends and I actually visited Wat Phra Kaew first, and you can read more about that by clicking here.

Although I'll be sharing more about the trip on this post, you can click on the video below to watch our experience as well!

*Remember to like the video and to subscribe to my channel!*

After having lunch at Tha Tian Market, my friends and I headed to the dock to take a ferry across the river to Wat Arun. The ferry costs THB4 per pax.

When we arrived, we had a quick stop at one of the stalls for some coconut shake and proceeded to walk towards Wat Arun.

Since it was already after lunch, the sun was already pretty high up. I recommend wearing sunblock to prevent any sunburn!

Like the palace, entrance is free for locals. Entrance for tourists costs THB50, and your ticket will be collected upon entry. Entrance is allowed from 8.30am to 5pm!

Although it didn't look like there were a lot of people in the video, there were actually a ton. It was way harder to take pictures here because compared the grand palace, Wat Arun's steps were very steep and narrow. It was way harder to take wide shot pictures here without any photobombers, so a lot of patience is required. If you can, come earlier when there are fewer people, otherwise, you'll have to photoshop your pictures a lot.

Nonetheless, I still managed to get stunning wide shots thanks to the Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark II with an M.Zuiko 7-14mm wide lens that I was using, courtesy of Olympus Malaysia. Although its hard to take wide shots here, I still recommend bringing a wide lens because it's the only way you'll be able to shoot Wat Arun in its entirety.

Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn is well known Thai landmark and is actually a Buddhist temple. The main feature of Wat Arun is its central prang (Khmer-style tower) which is encrusted with colourful porcelain. When the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple, it reflects it with pearly iridescence.

For my outfit, I went nude & brown, and it blended in perfectly with Wat Arun's pearly structures:

Actually wide shots aren't a complete necessity and close up shots with the motifs/walls of Wat Arun look really pretty and wanderlust-y as well.

The central prang is topped with a seven-pronged trident, referred to by many sources as the Trident of Shiva. Its closed off to the public and you're not allowed to climb it.

One of my tips would be to find a wall/corner, wait for people to clear off and take pics as fast as you can. You can't really ask people to go away or to make space, so it's important to be patient and to wait for that golden second.

Although we couldn't catch Wat Arun in action at daybreak, we did manage to catch her around golden hour/sundown, and she was indeed very pretty.

The grounds outside Wat Arun are actually pretty nice as well! Here's a candid snap of Anis that I took:

And here's all four of us! #TeamBAES

After that, we took the Chao Phraya Express Boat (Golden Flag) which cost THB20 per pax to Iconsiam, a nearby mall. After taking a break and eating an afternoon snack, we took a free shuttle boat from Iconsiam to the Sathorn Pier, where we got a taxi and headed back to out Airbnb.

Aaaaand that's it for this post! If you haven't checked out my previous post about The Grand Palace/Wat Phra Kaew, click here to check it out.